Her Hero
by Lucinda
Summary: Willow has a bad dream, her husband seeks to sooth her.  AU  crossover with Angel the Series.


Her Hero  
  
author: Lucinda  
  
rating: pg, pg 13?  
  
pairing: Willow/Doyle QPC #18  
  
the QPC site: http://quickie.moonlightpaths.com  
  
disclaimer: I own nobody from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series.  
  
distribution: WLS, NHA, QPC, Bite Me please?, anyone else just ask.  
  
note: AU from the Angel season 1 episode Hero.  
  
Willow shifted uncomfortably in her bed, her shoulders brushing against her husband as she tried to find a comfortable position. They were delighted to be expecting their first child next month, but her advanced pregnancy made it hard for Willow to find a comfortable position to sleep at night. If she lay on her back, the baby pressed against her kidneys, and she had to go to the bathroom. She couldn't sleep on her stomach, even if it wasn't feeling rather large at the moment, because it made her feel like she couldn't breathe. Even in her slumber, she tossed awkwardly, especially when driven by troubling dreams.  
  
Half asleep, her husband turned, his arms sliding around her, pulling her close as he sleepily murmured soothing words, his Irish accent thickened in his sleep. One hand tried to stroke her hair, knowing that sometimes soothed her.  
  
Willow frowned as the images continued, everything intense and vivid to her sleeping mind. "no..."  
  
* * * *  
  
A crowd of people, their faces clearly marking them as having demon ancestry huddled in the hold of a cargo ship, their clothing worn, faded and in some places torn or stained. Mothers clutched their children close to them, and some tried to pray, desperately hoping that the God of their human ancestors would deliver them. They were hybrids, poor unfortunates who had been born with human and demon ancestry, unwelcome and undesired by either the humans or the demons. They had hoped to buy passage to a far away place, having collected all the money they had saved, begged, or borrowed to buy passage.  
  
But the Scourge had found them.  
  
The militant group of demon purists felt that any 'human taint' made a demon impure, unworthy to continue existence. They lined the railing, their uniforms a dark, ominous grey, the color and style somehow reminiscent of Hitler's forces. They were part of the reason why the hybrids cowered in fear.  
  
The rest of the reason dangled even now from a crane, a spiked globe of dark grey metal. This device was the product of decades of careful research by the Scourge, a device that would instantly vaporize anything within it's range that carried human blood within it. Like the hybrids. Like Angel, who as a vampire was something of a hybrid demon. Like Cordelia, the sharp-witted aspiring actress that helped keep Angel from brooding too much. Like Doyle himself, the child of a Brakken demon father and a human mother.  
  
Angel started towards the railing, clearly intent to stop the lowering of the device, but Doyle leapt forward, punching Angel, knocking him down so that Doyle had a few moments. He jumped, his body slamming into the device with a painful thud, the spikes drawing blood in a dozen painful places as he crawled over to the place where the controls were. Frantically, he tried with fear dampened hands to disarm the device before it could unleash horrible tragedy. His fingers were just a fraction too slow, and the rays came forth, a searing numbness that turned the whole world to harsh white pain....  
  
* * * *   
  
"NO!!!" Willow sat upright, the harsh scream torn from her throat as her whole body quivered in terror.  
  
Her husband pulled her close to him, holding her in an effort to stop her shaking. "Willow, sweet, it's alright. It was just a dream... everything's fine... Unless it was the baby. Please tell me it isn't time?"  
  
She'd turned, burrowing as close to her husband as she could, one hand around his ribs, another raised to tangle through his dark hair. When Willow finally managed to speak around the taste of sour fear, her voice was a raw whisper. "I dreamed about the Scourge... You were on this device, and it went off, and you died..."  
  
Willow closed her eyes against the hot tears, uncertain how she would have made it through Oz's cheating and abandonment without her beloved husband. He had been the person who had been there for her, had kept her from drowning in despair and misery. Gradually, they'd fallen in love. Now, they were happily married, and she couldn't imagine life without him.  
  
"It's alright... I'm here for you. I'm not dead. Cordy shot the cable while Angel and I were fighting, and the device shattered on the floor... you remember all of this. We've told you so many times..." Doyle held his wife close, rocking her in a gentle, soothing rhythm.  
  
She sniffled slightly, knowing that it had only been a dream. "I know... but it felt so real. You were gone. You can't go... I need you, we need you. You have to stay and teach baby Michael everything he'll need to know."  
  
"Don't forget the best reason, sweet. I have you, the prettiest, most passionate, red haired angel that a man could ever ask for." Doyle's words were murmured into her ear, a gentle reminder of his love.  
  
"I love you, Doyle. You know that, right?" Willow's voice shook only a little.  
  
"Yes, I know. Just like I love you. Now, let's try to get a little more sleep, alright?" Doyle spoke gently as he eased them both back to the bed, one hand stroking her stomach where their baby shifted position.  
  
'hrmmm... love you... don't die.' Willow's words were blurred as her exhaustion claimed her once more.  
  
"Never, my love. Never." Doyle murmured as he snuggled up to his wife.  
  
end Her Hero. 


End file.
